A new report says states that have resisted Medicaid expansion are putting kids at risk because not as many families are accessing consistent health care. Wisconsin is among those states, but expansion supporters hope the new stimulus bill will result in action. According to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, Wisconsin’s rate of uninsured children is at 3-point-8 percent. That’s below the national average. But William Parke-Sutherland, of the statewide group Kids Forward, says Wisconsin is in danger of losing ground to other states that now have warmed up to the idea of using federal funds from the Affordable Care Act to expand their programs. Wisconsin’s number of uninsured kids has crept up in recent years, now standing at 53-thousand. G-O-P leaders say they’ll reject the latest plan from Governor Tony Evers to expand Badger Care, noting the state doesn’t have as many gap issues, while expressing concerns about federal funds drying up. But supporters point to the stimulus package signed by President Joe Biden, which includes a new financial boost for Medicaid programs. The package would pay each state’s 10-percent share of the Medicaid costs for the next two years, and give them additional money to cover people who are uninsured. Adam Searing is a health-policy research professor at the Georgetown Center. He says this might be the incentive needed to get more states to expand their programs. Overall, the report says between 2016 and 2019, the child uninsured rate in non-expansion states grew nearly three times as fast as in expansion states. Health policy experts say if programs for adults are expanded, it’s likely that their kids will become enrolled as well, resulting in healthier outcomes.
